Canadian canaries in the coalmine

“Should Canadian Jews still be reciting the prayer for the government?” is a provocative opinion piece in the Toronto Sun by Jonathan L. Milevsky, a Toronto-based teacher and author.

In short, Dr Milevsky recently met Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, chief Rabbi of the UK, and asked him whether Canadian Jews should still recite a prayer for the current Canadian government, given its inaction while synagogues are being vandalized, Jewish schools and institutions targeted and harassed, with Jews no longer feeling safe even in Jewish neighborhoods. As Rabbi Mirvis reminded him, at Avot 3:2 Rabbi Chanina segan HaKohanim teaches:

הֱוֵי מִתְפַּלֵּל בִּשְׁלוֹמָהּ שֶׁל מַלְכוּת, שֶׁאִלְמָלֵא מוֹרָאָהּ, אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵֽהוּ חַיִּים בְּלָעוֹ

Pray for the integrity of the government for, if it were not for the fear of its authority, a man would swallow his neighbour alive.

Dr Milevsky goes on to question whether this applies to Canada today:

“Rabbi Mirvis did not mention the first source for the prayer, which is the prophet Jeremiah’s letter to the Babylonians, as recorded in Jeremiah chapter 29. In this letter, Jeremiah instructs the Jews to seek the welfare of Babylon, the city of their captors.

In Canada, like so many other democratic countries, Jews have had very little reason to reconsider this ancient practice. If Jews said a prayer for the Czar, as my late 19th century prayer book indicates, certainly they should do so for a democratic country such as Canada. Several generations of Canadian Jews speak so proudly of their heritage … [b]ut Jews are not being treated as they use to be. And the government is not what it used to be either.

…Rabbi Mirvis referred to the basis for both these sources, an almost Hobbesian social contract, in which we hand over our rights to the government in return for protection. But the argument to stop the prayer is that this government no longer meets the criteria for the prayer. The reasons are as follows:

The passage in Jeremiah, which serves as our first source, makes it clear that the benefit of seeking the city’s welfare is ultimately the safety of Jews – the words are, “for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.” However, the current policies of this Canadian government, including backing anti-Israel resolutions of the UN, have served to undermine the safety of Jews. More troubling is that Canadian forces stand by as those calling for worldwide intifada and dressing up as Yahya Sinwar are allowed to roam the streets.

The aforementioned mishnah, which is the second source, grounds the practice in the safety of society, and that may not apply in these circumstances. As the 16th century sage Obadia of Bertinoro states, it is fear of the government that promotes peace. But there is arguably no fear of this government. On the contrary, this government has stood by as Jews are themselves intimidated.

The Spanish 13th century sage, Rabbi Jonah of Gerondi, writes that the mishnah expresses the idea that Jews are concerned not only with themselves but with society as a whole. Seen in this way, there are two obstacles to continuing the prayer: it is not only that the government fails to do enough to protect Jews, but also that a society that does not protect Jews is likely to itself be subject to persecution. 

For over eighty years, the expression that has given voice to this fear is “the Jews are the canary in the coalmine” when it comes to the safety of minorities and religious freedom. As the eternal outsider, Jews represent how society can turn on its own. In this way, the ultimate purpose of the prayer is undermined as well.

Rabbi Mirvis categorically rejected my argument, arguing the prayer is for stability rather than a particular figure. Rabbi Mirvis’ view is reminiscent of the opinion of 18th-19th century rabbi Israel Lipschitz, who explained the mishnah in question does not mention a specific ruler but the government as a whole. Here we return to the notion of the social contract. As Canadian Jews, we wonder if this government is keeping its side of the bargain.

This point is put into sharp relief when we consider the fact that, by Canadian law, guards of houses of worship cannot be armed. It is likely because of this provision that synagogues in Canada have been shot at, defaced and vandalized.

Thus, it is fair to suggest that the social contract is fraying here in Canada. And as time goes on, and more Jews recognize the hatred this government has allowed to flourish, I wonder if it will soon be time to raise this question again?”

Until very recently Canada was a country that was widely regarded as a “safe space” in which Jews could practise their religion and live a Jewish lifestyle without threat or hindrance. It has come as a shock to most of us to see how rapidly the situation has changed. Even so, it seems to me that this opinion piece is unfounded.

In the first place, there are many discussions of this mishnah and they are far from unanimous in their explanation of its meaning and its practical implementation. I wonder why Dr Milevsky opted for Rabbenu Yonah’s brief comment, which appears to be directed solely at the need to pray for global peace and says nothing about domestic government and its deficiencies. Secondly, we can question the relevance of the passage in Jeremiah, which the mishnah does not regard as a source (as Rabbi Meir Shapiro and Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein note). Additionally, Rabbi Chanina was himself living at a time of chaos, when the Romans stood by and watched while Jews were engaged in devastating internecine warfare and did nothing to protect the civilian population—but he still taught that one should pray for the welfare of the government.

The failure of the Canadian government to protect its Jewish citizens adequately cannot be ignored or condoned. But if we do not pray for God to guide it with wisdom and understanding, what are our alternatives? Praying for a government is not a sort of metaphysical reward for good performance. Surely, do we not pray because it is our interest that God listens to our prayers and answers them?

For comments and discussion of this post on Facebook, click here.

For earlier Avot Today posts on this mishnah and the problems of praying for failing or inadequate governments, see the following:

Syria After Assad: a question for Avot https://www.facebook.com/groups/avottoday/posts/1030442092176018/

Prayer for the Welfare of a Bad Government https://www.facebook.com/groups/avottoday/posts/298131372073764/

Prayer for the Welfare of Whose Government?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/avottoday/posts/980694073817487/

On the March with Pirkei Avot

https://www.facebook.com/groups/avottoday/posts/802574111629485/

Syria after Assad: a question for Avot

At Avot 3:2, Rabbi Chanina segan HaKohanim teaches:

הֱוֵי מִתְפַּלֵּל בִּשְׁלוֹמָהּ שֶׁל מַלְכוּת, שֶׁאִלְמָלֵא מוֹרָאָהּ, אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵֽהוּ חַיִּים בְּלָעוֹ

Pray for the integrity of the government; for were it not for the fear of its authority, a man would swallow his neighbour alive.

Few readers of Avot Today will have missed the news of the remarkable developments in Syria, where President Assad’s much hated but hitherto unassailable regime has been swept aside. In its place there has emerged a coalition of forces that share some aims but are themselves in conflict over others.

What are the stated objectives of the successful forces? According to an early statement we learn the following:

"After 50 years of oppression under the regime, and 13 years of crime, tyranny and displacement, and after a long struggle and fight and confronting all forms of occupation forces, we announce today on 12-8-2024 the end of this dark era and the beginning of a new era for Syria.

To the displaced all over the world, free Syria awaits you”.

This new Syria is declared to be a place where everyone

."…coexists in peace, justice prevails and rights are established, where every Syrian is honoured and his dignity is preserved, we turn the page on the dark past and open a new horizon for the future."

These are noble aspirations, but is there any prospect that they will be delivered? Success has come through the cooperation between numerous factions which, though united in their determination to force a regime change, are themselves deeply divided along political, religious and ethnic lines.

Though Syria has been technically at war with Israel since 1948, the Assad regime agreed a cease-fire with Israel which, though there have been breaches, has been in the main respected by both sides. At the time of writing this post, the long-term fate of this cease-fire remains uncertain. If the maintenance of the cease-fire depends on the ability of the new regime to prevent potentially lethal border incursions by any of its anti-Israel factions, should we be praying for the welfare of the coalition if Israeli lives depend on it?

There is a further point to consider. The once-thriving Syrian Jewish community effectively vanished in 1992 when the father of the current President permitted the last remaining 4,000 Jews to emigrate on condition that they did not make aliyah. Most settled in the United States. Might they respond to the clarion call of the coalition: “To the displaced all over the world, free Syria awaits you”? In the event that they are tempted to return (and we Jews have returned to many countries that sought to eliminate us), we would need to ask what this means to us. Does this mishnah address only the needs of the country in which we live, or does it speak also to those countries in which our brethren live and in which their welfare and safety depend on enforcement of the rule of law by a government with integrity?

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Praying for the welfare of a bad government

Rabbi Chanina, Deputy of the Kohanim, says: “Pray for the welfare (literally 'peace') of the government since, if it were not for fear of it, a man would swallow his neighbour alive" (Avot 3:2). In principle this sounds perfectly sensible. A government that cannot govern is a recipe for a failed state. Its rule generates anarchy, chaos and the often devastating consequences when individuals and communities have to fend for themselves, taking the law -- or more properly the absence of law -- into their own hands.

But things are never as simple as they seem. Does one pray for the peace of the realm when the government is oppressive, corrupt, selfish and immoral? Opinions are divided. Rabbi Marc D. Angel, for example, writes:

"...praying for the welfare of the government is relevant only if the government itself is just. If the government is immoral, one certainly should not pray for its welfare" (The Koren Pirkei Avot, 2015).

Against this, it is worth considering the background to this teaching. Rabbi Chanina lived, and died, at a time of chaos and anarchy, when the Romans occupied the whole of Israel and the Levant; they were therefore the ruling power in Israel itself. Nowhere in Israel was more anarchic than Jerusalem, where the power struggle between different religious and nationalist factions resulted in the great tragedy of Jew-on-Jew murders, these being deaths that the Roman governors had no great interest in preventing. The Jewish authorities too were powerless to stop this carnage. Indeed, it was a sorry reflection of those troubled times that the members of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court, absented themselves from the Lishkat HaGazit (the Chamber of Hewn Stone, from which place alone capital cases could be tried) so that they would not be able to pass the death sentence on Jewish murderers. This decision was arguably taken on the basis that, since so many Jewish lives were already being lost and the death penalty was no longer an effective deterrent, it was folly to address the escalating mortality rate among Rome’s Jewish subjects by killing even more of them. If one is to pray for the welfare of only a good government, we may well ask whether Rabbi Chanina was ever able to follow his own advice.

Rabbi Marcus Lehmann (The Lehmann-Prins Pirkei Avoth (Feldheim, 1992) takes the view that Rabbi Chanina's teaching does indeed apply to corrupt governments. One does not pray, of course, that their leaders and functionaries should succeed in their evil, but that they should mend their ways and govern justly. This is reflected in the classic formula of the prayer for the Queen found in the British Authorised Daily Prayer Book:

“May [God] in his mercy put a spirit of wisdom and understanding into her heart, and into the hearts of all her counsellors, that they may uphold the peace of the realm, advance the welfare of the nation, and deal kindly and justly with all the House of Israel.” 

This formulation does not endorse the errors and follies of the government. It does however invoke God's mercy -- and it also acknowledges that wisdom and understanding are gifts from God, gifts of which many governments throughout the world are sorely in need.